Hardening and annealing furnace



B. M'. wALPoLE.

HARDENING AND ANNEAL|NG FURNACE.

- APlLlcATloN FILED AHL-15.1919.

Patented Apr; 11, 1922.

` i To all whom 'it may Concern .f

, .UNira srras BENJAMIN M. WALPOLE, orPROVIDENCE,antonin'1snANn11assrGNoR-To; NA'JJIONAl T'Be it known thatI,BENJAMIN WAL- frjoiin, a citizen of the United States.V and resident of.theV city of Providence', in the county of Providence .and State ofRhode Island', lhave invented certain'new. and useful Improvements inHardening and Annealing Furnaces, ofwhich the following is aspecification.

. This invention relates to furnaces adapted Vmore `particularly for'annealing and hardeningmetal' parts, and has for one otits objects toprovide a furnace in'which the heatV zone is sealed against the entranceofoutside `air 'fwhile the work is beingV acted upon therein to 'preventoxidization of the material'.' i

A further' object of' the invention is to provide a i combustion chamberaboutY the heat zone and separated from thel zone to prevent directcontact of the blaze with the workjwhen gas is` used as a fuel 'thereby,obtaining a more uniform heating effect "upOn the workand alsopreventing oxidizing of the same'while being treated. A further objectoftheinvention is to j provide AaY rotatable carrier in. which a vplurality ot spaced-apart work supporting sof members are mounted, saidmembers being independent of each other.

:1 -With these 'and other objects in: view, the V'invention consists ofcertain novel features of construction, as will be more; fullydescribed,v and particularlyy pointed'out inl the appended claims.

Inthe accompanying drawings:l Figure 1 is a sectional side elevationshowingl the general. arrangement ofV Vin y `Aimproved furn'ace.` l fFigure 2 is a central sectional end elevation ofthe same.

'Figure 3 is a sectional View showing-a portion'of a Vcarrierhavingfmeans' whereby.

the work is automatically ejected from the holder after'it has ybeenacted upon in the heat zone. I

Referring to the drawings, l0V designates the oven portion which may beformed of brick or other suitable heat-resisting ma- A partition 13 isformed in said Ychamber 'z2-2 as desired.

y eAsrURNACEooMrANY or..PnovrnnncngnrronnsLAND, A CORPORATION or@RHODEISLAND.V v v ff l -HARDENING ANDANNEALING FURNAQE.

This-oven Yand its partition are mounted onatable-Bi and Vsupportedonsuitable legsl.

Specica'tionof Letters Patent: .133te11fed-pr 11, 1922., Application'leiap'rii 15,19'1'95'v`'serialY Nofzeaiiaf' i 1 "A carrier member lisrotatablymounted A oni the Yshaft v17 which issupported on bearings 18from the table and this wheel yis.A

adapted to be-rotated through they worm 20, shaft21, and hand wheelwheel V19, worm .This carrier is Vc'o'nstructed essentiallyfin the form'of apair 0f spaced-apart Wheels eachyhavingr a plurality l ofloppositely disposed arms 23V radiating outwardly from'the v hub members2,6,v and between.:whicharms`V the work .supports 24 are pivotallymounted, eaCli on itspivotingrod 25, which work supports mayV be made inthe'formzof baskets lor receptaclesas illustrated in Figures -1 and 2,o'r in the Vform of'sockets 29 as illustratedin Figure 3, or in anyother desired form. I

In arranging these j work supports about the wheel, I- preferably formthem in groups :and separate` eaclrgroup from the neXtad- 'jacent group,and between Vthese different groups I :provide abaiiie plate27tmou`ntedvr on the wheel hubs and vwhich-plates. are arranged to enterthe heat zone and close both ends thereof to prevent circulationfrom the7 outer chamber .or gas zone 30', zpresently described, during'the vworkheating period and so 'more effectually confine Ythe`heatjwithin f l yai liquid bath tank 2811s pfrdedthfough which VYthe work supportsand-the work are vpassed to coolthe same,.after the latter has :beensubjected to the-high temperature in thehe'ated'zone.' One ofV hefeatures ofthis invention is that athin Wall-.or platef33 is arranged toVproject' downwardly from` `the Atable 34 land Afill this outer chamberwithsuitable nonterial, and within which is formed a. comv oxidizinggases through the pipe 40 tomore efi'ectually exclude the oxygen of theVair and so ei'lectually prevent oXidization ofthe Cil hand of theoperator down and deposited into the receptacles and after having beenannealed they are removed from the baskets by handat the other side ofthema'chine.

By my improved construction of furnace the carrier proper is notsubjected to action of the high temperature as it is effectivelyprotected. by the skirt 33' and double 'bands 3l and 32 of suitableheat-resisting material which are disposed about the hubs 26.

By my improved construction each of the work supports is entirelyindependent of the other supports in this carrier, in that if one isdisplaced or out of order, it in no way affects the operation of theothers; then again the work support itself is extremely simple inconstruction and is readily removedfrom the carrier and replaced byanother.

The heated Zone may be elongated to re.- ceive work of any length.

In some instances it is desired to provide means for automaticallydischarging the work from the holders, and in Figure 3 I haveillustrated one means of accomplishing this result which comprises awheel 35 on which are mounted a plurality of spokes 36 on which spokesare pivotally mounted at 37 the holders 29 into which the work 38 suchas drills or short rods, may be placed where` by'when the work holderspass the vertical line in the heat zone they will automatically tip andswing downwardly into position to discharge the work therefrom.

rIhis automatic operation, as illustrated, is but 'one of a number ofways in which this or similar result may be accomplished.

In the operation of myimproved anneal- V ing and hardening apparatus thework is placed byhand into a pair of receptacles Q4 then the device isrotated by means of the hand wheel 22 tov bring this pair of hollowreceptacles up intoV the heat Zone. After the work has kbecomethoroughly heatedl in this Zone the hand wheel 22 is again operated tobring the ywork from the heat rzone down into l the liquid on the otherside from whence it is removed by the hand of the operator.

rI`he foregoing description is directed solely towards the constructionillustrated, but I desire it to be understood that I reserve theprivilege of resorting to all the mechanical changesto which the deviceis susceptible, the invention being defined and limited only by theterms of the appended claims.

I claim: f Y

l. An annealing and hardeningfurnace comprising a rotary work carrier, aliquid tank, a heat zone above said tank and a skirtextendingydownwardly into the tank liquid sealing said heat zone againstthe admission of outer air. l i

2. An annealing and hardening furnace comprising a revolving carrier,work supports mounted on said carrier, ai'heated Zone into which thework supports yare moved by the rotation of said carrier, a liquid `tankinto which the work is immersed and a set of battle plates mountedon'the carrier for closing the heat zone after the work has beenadmitted thereto. y

8. An annealing and hardening furnace Ycomprising a revolving carrier, aplurality of spaced apart work supports arranged, around and mounted onsaid carrier, all mounted to rotate about a common center, a combustionchamber, a heat zone into which the work is carried by said carrier, acooling liquid into which the work is immersed, a partition between saidchamber and'zone excluding the atmosphere from said zone while the workis being acted upon therein.

4. An annealing and hardening .furnace comprising a revolving carrier, aplurality of work supports pivotally mounted in spaced relation in saidcarrier to swing inL dependently of each other, a heat zone, and meanswhereby said carrier may be rotated to advance said supports and thework into said zone and then moved out of said Zone after having beenraised to a predetermined temperature. y

5. An annealing and hardening furnace comprising a heat zone, a workcarrier for advancing the work into said Zone, and a holder for the workon said carrier adapted to be positioned by gravity to discharge the'work therefrom at a predetermined point in the travel of said carrier.

6. An annealing and hardening furnace comprising a heat zone, a set ofmovable work supports for carrying the work into said Zone, saidsupports being mounted to be positioned by gravity to eject the Workafter it has been acted upon in the heat zone.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

BENJAMIN M. WALPOLE.

